Atari ST games by genre

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Rebellion

A nasty virus has infected the automated machines on Mars so the robots have captured our scientists and are holding them captive. We have no anti-virus program at hand so it's our job to destroy any robots that get in the way and help lead the boffins to safety. Jump inside your spaceship and get ready to save the day once again!

Rebellion is a top-down shoot 'em up similar'ish to any Gauntlet-like game you may have played. Each screen has a number of trapped hostages which are often located in different areas. Some are behind a forcefield which can be partially deactivated by disabling a section of its wall. You won't have long before a repair droid appears so don't dawdle! Others can be in locked rooms which require a key card a robot may reveal when killed. Every level has a minimum number of hostages to rescue within a set time. Miss this and the spaceship will leave without you!

Enemy robots have a range of different abilities: some are slow whereas others are much faster and another can even lay down explosive mines. Some have no projectile weapon but others are only too eager to turn you into a blood splatter! Also, watch out for gun turrets, trapdoors, and large tanks. Interestingly, when you do lose a life, the robots are paused for a few seconds thus giving you some extra time to whack 'em full of lead. Our machine gun can be upgraded with more power and a faster action - just try not to kill any humans in the crossfire! There are a variety of other power-ups to enhance shields, invincibility, a radar scrambler and even a supply extra lives.

I don't normally enjoy games that have me worrying about the safety of computer-controlled characters whilst being hunted by the foe. I panic too much and everyone usually ends up dead! However, Rebellion works very well even though the hostages are lame at following so will often get stuck behind a wall... I'm never too happy about time limits and this one seems to have a mind of its own and may prove troublesome on later levels?

This is an enjoyable shooter and it's anxiously-good fun guiding scientists back to safety. Each level has an intricate and interesting design with gameplay that is progressive and an addictive experience. I love this game.

LINKS

- A hard drive installable version can be downloaded from the D-Bug website.
- Floppy disk based games can all be grabbed via Old Games Finder.